There’s nothing worse than knowing what’s coming around the bend and still getting smacked on the head with it. I just got an offer form AT&T for a free Microcell. What is it? It’s an ugly signal booster to take up space and a power outlet in my home to allow me to get the quality of coverage I’m supposed to be able to get without needing one. Sure, I’ll take it it, but come on, what type of excuse is that for the awful coverage that I get? And it’s not like this isn’t something they’re aware of. They know their coverage sucks, and I’m sure they know it’s a problem. But they can’t seem to get it fixed.
This is just the type of desperate move that keeps Verizon at the top. I mean, think about it. All Verizon needs to do to stay at the top is not drop people’s calls. Can it be that AT&T just can’t manage that type of insight? Instead, to stay viable, AT&T needs to keep changing their game plan. Purchase AT&T (back when they were Cingular). Rebrand, because everyone hated Cingular. Ruin the AT&T name, too, while they’re at it. Get the iPhone and hope that Verizon won’t for long enough for them to get their act together. Change their data plans to cut their losses. And to give out free Microcells. And the whole time through, I still keep asking myself, “Why can’t they just improve their damned coverage quality?”
I’ll coin this the Deli Effect. I mentioned in another post how New York Delis always start nice, then get messier and messier as they acquire more junk to sell. The same type of patchwork mentality you see with AT&T. We see the Deli Effect in wedding businesses all of the time. Instead of making strong strategic moves with a focused and unified direction, owners add this album, that album, this option, that option, this type of photography, that type of photography, and whatever else can make a quick profit. All leading to a diffused and directionless entity that has to keep doing more and more to keep getting less and less. I know, because I’ve been on the treadmill. It’s exhausting. And it all stems from the same type of logic that leads to the Microcell. If adding more is the only way to stay on track, there’s no escape. Adding more to improve is one thing. Adding more to keep from falling behind is another. And, come on, aren’t we all a little bit like AT&T sometimes? Don’t we know, deep down, what we need to do? Why not do it?
The trick is to increase your value by reaching the people who really want you. Which also means the trick is being really wanted, but that’s a lot easier than it may sound. In the thousands of people getting married each weekend, after all, we only need to find two people who really like us. And it doesn’t require an amazing value proposition either. Just not dropping calls can be enough. The real trick is to follow through with it.
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